Latest news

The Pirate Bay's browser attempt at anti-censorship, PirateBrowser, has surpassed 1 million downloads.

About a half of a percent of Pirate Bay users are accessing the site using the browser, says TorrentFreak.

When asked about the success of the browser, TPB added, "I guess that a lot of people want to see the websites their governments and courts are trying to hide from them."

PirateBrowser is a mix of the Tor client (Vidalia), FireFox Portable browser (with foxyproxy addon) "and some custom configs" to allow you to circumvent censorship. Although it has Tor in it, anonymity is not the point of the Pirate Browser.

As an added kick, the browser comes with pre-loaded bookmarks including The Pirate Bay, IsoHunt, Fenopy, EZTV, KickassTorrents, Bitsnoop, H33T and more.

Get the browser here: PirateBrowser at AfterDawn

More and more users are accessing YouTube via their mobile devices.

Google says mobile devices now account for 40 percent of all traffic to YouTube, jumping from 25 percent in 2012 and just 6 percent in 2011.

The search giant has been investing heavily in mobile, and not just on Android. The company recently took back control of its YouTube app on iOS from Apple, and has been significantly improving the experience.

Hunter Walk, a former director of product management tweeted the figure this week. Walk adds that YouTube formed the mobile team in 2007, a full year before Android and iOS got into the mix and before mobile data was even a real feature for phones. The company made sure to transcode video to be played on mobiles and made sure to get the app pre-installed on the iPhone.

Who is the YouTube of mobile & tablets? YOUTUBE! We made early bet & now accts for 40% of traffic. Great job @dobry2000 & team!

-- Hunter Walk (@hunterwalk) October 17, 2013

Apple has begun recalling flash storage drives that were used in previous generation MacBook Air ultrabooks.

The 64GB and 128GB drives were used in systems sold between June 2012 and June 2013, and Apple says all those affected can get a free replacement at an Apple retail store or an Apple authorized service provider.

Apple "also recommends backing up your data on a regular basis until you receive a replacement drive."

In addition, if your drive has failed and you had to pay for a replacement, Apple will refund you.

If you think you may be affected, check Apple's support page here.

Lorain Wong, HTC's head of global public relations, corporate and internal communications, has left the company just four months after joining.

The exec had previously worked for AT&T and CBS Evening News, as well as leading cable provider Asia Global Crossing's marketing communications team for a decade.

HTC says Wong has resigned for personal reasons but will remain as a consultant for another four months.

There has been an exodus from the struggling smartphone maker, with six senior executives leaving in the past two years including the previous marketing boss John Wang and even Chief Financial Officer Winston Yung.

The news is somewhat surprising as HTC recently rebranded the entire company and began an expensive marketing campaign with Robert Downey Jr. as the spokesperson.

Regional American carrier U.S. Celluar has announced that it will be getting the new iPhones starting next month.

After promising in May that it would get all iPhones moving forward, the carrier had not given a concrete release date for the new iPhone 5C and iPhone 5S flagships.

Pricing has not been revealed yet, but the carrier will announce that next week.

The iPhone 5C features the same specs of last year's iPhone but includes new colorways and a plastic back. The iPhone 5S features a 64-bit processor, a fingerprint scanner and completely rehauled internals.

PC giant Lenovo has signed an NDA to examine BlackBerry's books, as it looks to purchase parts of the company.

Reuters says any bid for the entire company would be met with extensive regulatory huddles and is likely not worth the attempt for the Chinese company.

BlackBerry has been exploring a sale or other strategic 'alternatives' since August and has seen significant interest for different parts of the company, including its patent trove valued at over $2 billion.

The company received a $9 per share bid for the entire company from its largest shareholder, but investors do not appear to believe that deal will ever take place as the stock has traded down to $8.20 since the offer was made.

BlackBerry's most marketable assets are its secure network, which still handles millions of confidential messages and emails daily, its patents, and its messenger application. Its consumer and enterprise hardware business is considered a blackhole, and does not appear to have any interest but could mark an easier entry point to the North American market for Lenovo if they so chose to look into that division.

Sony has unveiled the price for their upcoming PlayStation 4 console today for Brazilian gamers, and the price is outrageous.

The electronics giant says the console will sell for Brazilian Real 3,999 in the country, the equivalent of about $1830 in US Dollars.

Games will be no better, selling for Real 179, or about $82 in USD. The increased costs are due to import fees, taxes and tariffs, and South America generally has a smaller gaming audience for next-gen consoles as markets saturate for previous generations.

The rival Xbox One will also sell at a premium, selling for Real 2199, about $1010, but clearly a huge discount to the Sony system.

Ubuntu 13.10 aka Saucy Salamander, is now available and with it comes the first truly mobile version of the Linux distribution.

While the distro does support smartphones and tablets, there are no Ubuntu mobile devices available just yet, with parent company Canonical stating that early 2014 could be a possibility. There are a few Nexus devices that can run the software currently, however.

As with all new operating systems, there are a few glaring issues right out of the gate. There are practically no native mobile apps, and as of yet Ubuntu Touch cannot be run as a full desktop version using HDMI as promised.

Canonical says this is because the mobile-friendly display server, Mir, is not ready for a full desktop version, yet. The company says "outstanding technical difficulties" means the feature will launch with April's 14.04 release.

"The desktop at this stage doesn't fully support the new graphics architecture that is now enabled on the phone OS," Richard Collins, Canonical's product manager for mobile, added (via Om). "It's something we are working very rapidly towards."

Google, which has still not confirmed the device despite pictures, specs, manuals and now an official listing being leaked, has revealed the price for their upcoming Nexus 5.

The device, which is likely to be unveiled at the end of the month, will start at $349 for the 16GB model, likely meaning the 32GB internal storage model will launch at $399.

From what we know of the specs, the Nexus 5 will have a 5-inch 1080p display, be powered by a 2.3GHz Snapdragon 800 processor, 2GB RAM, dual cameras 8MP/2MP and the new Android 4.4 KitKat right out of the box.

Check the leaked pics here (via Google Play Store):

Samsung has kept their promise of getting Android 4.3 out to Galaxy S4 owners by the end of October.

The update has begun rolling out today, starting in Germany but will eventually get to all carriers across the globe, even the notoriously slow U.S. wireless industry.

Earlier this year we reviewed the horrible Acer Iconia W3 tablet, the first Windows 8 tablet to market at the 8-inch form factor.

This week, Acer has unveiled the second-generation model, the W4, which runs on the newly launched Windows 8.1.

Acer's latest has the same 8-inch display, but this time with a 1,280 x 800, optically bonded IPS display for improved anti-glare and daylight use.

Under the hood is a new Bay Trail processor at 1.8GHz which should improve performance significantly, and the tablet has 32GB internal storage, dual 2MP/5MP cameras, a microSD slot, a microHDMI port and a standard micro-USB port for charging.

Acer is also including a full copy of Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 edition for productivity.

The tablet will go on sale later this month starting at $330.

Microsoft has gleefully reminded consumers that its Windows 8.1 operating system is now available across the globe as a digital download and upgrade for Windows 7 and Windows 8 users.

Starting tomorrow, the OS will be available as a packaged DVD product and on new computers, adds the software giant.

As part of the launch, the customer is also giving away $10 promotional Windows Store gift cards to 810 people everyday that Tweet their new Start screen along with the hashtag #Mystart on Twitter.

Windows 8.1 brings a lot of features that should improve the experience of Windows 8 including improved multitasking, the return of the Start button (in a basic respect), the introduction of a better universal search, improved native Windows 8 apps and the ability to make the desktop your default when you open the computer rather than the Live Tile page.

Get the update here: Windows.com

The once-popular torrent index site isoHunt will shut down for good following a settlement with the MPAA and Hollywood studios.

In addition to shutting down, the settlement terms include a $110 million penalty against the site and its owner, Gary Fung.

U.S. Magistrate Judge Jacqueline Chooljian says shes has canceled a planned hearing due to the new settlement. Despite winning the original case against them (which began in 2006), the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in March ruled against isoHunt, claiming "there is more than enough unrebutted evidence in the summary judgment record to prove Fung offered his services with the object of promoting their use to infringe copyrighted material."

Finally, the settlement will prohibit Fung from "further profiting from the infringement of MPAA member studio content."

Reads the MPAA's statement: The news "sends a strong message that those who build businesses around encouraging, enabling and helping others to commit copyright infringement are themselves infringers, and will be held accoutbale for their actions."

T-Mobile USA CEO John Legere has strongly suggested today that the carrier will be receiving data-enabled iPads following Apple's upcoming October 22nd event.

The carrier first began offering iPhones back in April and has never carried iPads.

Consumers have long been able to insert T-Mobile SIM cards into their iPhones and iPads, but an official deal with Apple would allow users to walk into retail stores and purchase the tablets pre-loaded with a T-Mobile SIM card and optimizations for the company's fledgling LTE service.

On October 22nd, Apple is expected to introduce the iPad Mini 2 with Retina display and Touch ID, and a fifth-generation iPad with the new A7 64-bit processor.

What has two thumbs and is excited for October 22? #thisguy http://t.co/gQvJ1a1axD

-- John Legere (@JohnLegere) October 16, 2013

According to a new report from ATD, Twitter is looking to release a standalone app for messaging, alongside an overhaul of its current private messaging features.

Sources say the updates are coming in "the near future" and the company has been working on such features for some time.

The move comes at a time where global cross-platform messaging apps have seen huge jumps in popularity, with services like WhatsApp and Line seeing over 200 million users. Social networking giant Facebook has its own messaging app, and BlackBerry has been working on its own BlackBerry Messenger.

Among the evidence that Twitter has been working on the service update is the fact that it recently began testing allowing users you are not following to send direct messages.